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I certainly second Mixter's Primer of Navigation as an excellent
navigation text. It was always my experience that when or where Dutton or
Bowditch became difficult to understand, the matter was clarified by
reference to Mixter. Certainly an excellent book for the
non-professional.

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:00:30 -0400 Smith_Peter@EMC.COM writes:
> On Friday, April 30, 2004 8:33 AM
> George  asked:
> > Here's a request for advice from listmembers about a suitable
> book.
> >
> > An intelligent geographer finds himself in the position of editing
> for
> > publication a number of logs of sailing-vessel voyages of the
> early 19th
> > century (pre-Sumner).
> >
> > He lacks the background of small-boat navigation that so many of
> us on
> this
> > list enjoy, and admits to knowing little about navigation
> generally. Yet
> > for this editing, he finds that he needs to learn something about
> the
> > basics of navigation, coastal, DR, and celestial.
> >
> > He and I are arranging some sort of short crash-course between us,
> in the
> > Summer. But before then, I would like to recommend to him a book,
> or two,
> > (or website perhaps) to help him to prepare to understand the
> background.
> > Damned if I can think of what the best text might be for that job.
> Any
> > suggestions?
>
> I have always recommended George Mixter's _Primer of Navigation_ as
> a good
> starting point for learning and understanding coastal and celestial
> navigation.
> It's back in print, with added chapters on current electronics, but
> the
> foundation is still piloting, dead reckoning, and celestial (with
> solutions
> by
> HO 211/Ageton in the older editions, adding HO 229 & 249 examples in
> later
> eds).
> Older editions are omnipresent on eBay and would serve him just as
> well as
> the
> current one. Indeed, the 1940's editions have at least some
> discussion of
> the
> "old" navigation (meridian and time sights). However, your friend's
> focus
> would
> be on the nature of pilotage, DR, and especially the mind-set of
> using
> sights,
> bearings, soundings, etc., to regularly refine a necessarily inexact
> notion
> of
> where one is.
>
> More specifically, Mixter, Dutton, Bowditch, and others all contain
> a
> chapter
> that walks the reader through a day's work, usually pilotage out of
> a
> harbor,
> taking departure, then on to AM/PM stars and sun lines. If your
> friend could
> study one or more of these navigational days, he would get closer to
> the
> navigator's mind-set.
>
>  -- Peter
>

   

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